I think my boat (93 Hunter P42) suffered a near miss by a lightning strike while on her mooring. I'm not sure? After returning to the boat one day after a thunder storm, I discovered that my instruments, inverter and solar panels no longer worked. I did not find any physical signs of a direct lightning strike. In looking for the source of the problem, I discovered that the negative terminal clamp on one of my house batteries was melted through which definitely was not good! One heck of surge must have gone through the system. At this point I have replaced the battery terminal clamp, solar panel regulator, solar panel amp meter, and the inverter but have not done anything with the instruments yet. VHF radio still works. I have no indication of any major shorts existing in the wiring or batteries. I did notice a slight voltage drop (about1-2 volts) when I switch my main pane DC circuit breakers on. I was going to put an amp meter between the negative cable and terminal to see if there is a load that should determine if there is an existing load or short somewhere in the system? Any trouble shooting thoughts or similar experiences would be appreciate.
Help - Melted Battery Terminal
- Thread starter Sailorjock
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battery terminal
If you believe that you had a possible lighting strike that melted the battery terminal, I would do some looking at the boat wireing. This strike has a very large current flow, you may have melted wireing throughout the boat, causing more shorts. I would start troublshooting by disconnecting all of the electronics and checking for current flow. This will indicate shorts in boat wiring. If no shorts in wiring are seen then you start connecting electronics one at a time viewing the amp meter for a sudden large jump in amperage. This sudden jump in amperage will indicate a damaged component. Things to look at: melted wires in boat wiring, shorted electronics, melted deck connectors, melted wires at mast exit point if mast is metal, Check alternator diodes, and when checking the voltage on the battery a SMALL voltage drop will be seen as more and more electronics are added, based on the amps that the component draws. Good luck Fair winds. AL
If you believe that you had a possible lighting strike that melted the battery terminal, I would do some looking at the boat wireing. This strike has a very large current flow, you may have melted wireing throughout the boat, causing more shorts. I would start troublshooting by disconnecting all of the electronics and checking for current flow. This will indicate shorts in boat wiring. If no shorts in wiring are seen then you start connecting electronics one at a time viewing the amp meter for a sudden large jump in amperage. This sudden jump in amperage will indicate a damaged component. Things to look at: melted wires in boat wiring, shorted electronics, melted deck connectors, melted wires at mast exit point if mast is metal, Check alternator diodes, and when checking the voltage on the battery a SMALL voltage drop will be seen as more and more electronics are added, based on the amps that the component draws. Good luck Fair winds. AL
Another way
The first thing I would do is disconnect everything in the boat. Including the batteries. Then start reading between wires with an ohm meter. If you have any burnt wiring you will get a reading of a short between the burnt wire and ground, or between the burnt wire and positive. This will show even a short which may just be slightly burned through the insulation, but which will get worse pretty fast.
The first thing I would do is disconnect everything in the boat. Including the batteries. Then start reading between wires with an ohm meter. If you have any burnt wiring you will get a reading of a short between the burnt wire and ground, or between the burnt wire and positive. This will show even a short which may just be slightly burned through the insulation, but which will get worse pretty fast.
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